Florence is a place I used to call home back when I studied abroad for school. (My apartment was to the right of the building with the green roof.) I haven’t been back since I left in 2008 but it’s as inspiring and delicious as I remember.
For this trip I was visiting a friend I met last year. Giosuè is an Italian missionary filmmaker I met when he was in the States raising support. He made a stop in Atlanta and that’s where I connected with him. He started the Italy Film Project to use cinema to reach Italians. When I started planning my trip to Europe, he invited me to come check out what the life of an Italian filmmaker is like so how could I say no?
He showed me around and took me to all the great vantage points.
And riding in cars with Italians is fun. Especially when they stopped speaking English and switched to Italian…to encourage the other drivers I’m sure!
Oh and the food. You can’t talk about Italy and not talk about food.
It makes me sad that American food is so far from being real food.
If you look behind the meat, you can see the most delicious sandwich ever.
My favorite memory, however, has nothing to do with the culture. On my last day, Giosuè and I climbed the stairs to the top Duomo. Everyone climbs it for the view.
After we finish walking around the top, we start to head down. We literally had just started going down and a lady stops and asks me if there’s anything to see at the top.
Um.
I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. She was. She literally didn’t know what was waiting for her at the top. I of course told her yes. But she was right there – literally a few steps from reaching the top. And she thought there wasn’t anything else to see (up until this point you were just climbing stairs). Oh man. I lost it and was laughing and crying the whole way down. I just couldn’t believe it. If she didn’t know about the views, why did she climb all those stairs??
Another highlight of my time was being able to go to church with Giosuè. He translated for me so it was even better! I love seeing what the church looks like locally in different places so I’m really thankful I was able to see what a local Italian church was like. Oh and they serve espresso before the service.
Afterwards, we headed to his mom’s house where she cooked for the family. A homemade Italian cooked meal. Need I say more? His mom has agreed to come live with me and instead of paying rent, she will just cook for me. I think I’m getting the better end of that deal.
My time in Florence though was great. Not just because of the food or the views, but because of all the stories I heard of how God is making things happen in Italy – largely through the Italy Film Project. And to hear from and see in Giosuè all the passion and motivation for not just continuing what God has started but also growing it as God leads him was inspiring and exciting to see and hear. (PS You can support Giosuè here)
It might have been 8 years since I was in Florence last, but I left even more inspired this time I think!